| There is evidence of English and French
fishermen, who listening to these stories, made their way across the North
Atlantic and were rewarded by the richest fishing grounds in the world, the
Grand Banks of Newfoundland. They did not want to share their discovery with
competing fishermen and hence the secret was probably closely guarded. (As were
later Spanish discoveries when they also feared that other nations would send
expeditions to the rich lands which they discovered and keep secret logs and
records of almost all of their sea voyages. EG: West coast of North America) |
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Cabot departs Bristol May 1498 |
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By 1497 the success of Christopher Columbus was
leaking out to all areas of Europe and the response in England was to take a
closer look at the position of the Kingdom in the North Atlantic and the
potential for conquering new lands or more importantly, as with Columbus's
original intentions, to discover a direct trading route to the Far East. |
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Cabot's ship, the Matthew |
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| Henry the VII had recently finished the War of
the Roses by taking power himself and killing the last direct challenger for the
throne. Feeling somewhat secure at home, he was ready to send someone west,
across the Atlantic in search of China and the Spice Islands. He choose a
Genoese navigator, John Cabot (Giovanni Cabot) and on May 2nd 1497 he set sail
from Bristol England on a ship named the Mathew
and crossed the Atlantic. |
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| According to a
Bristol merchant John Day, he probably landed in Newfoundland, Labrador and
Cape Breton Island. He returned the following year on a second voyage of
discover and like Columbus he believed that he had reached Asia and the natives
were in fact Chinese. These initial voyages were enough to establish a claim by
England to this new territory and served to open up the floodgates for other exploration
and fishermen in search of the legendary Grand Banks. |
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As Cabot arrived in Newfoundland's waters, he and
his men were amazed by the sea life. They dipped baskets into the water and drew
them out full of fish. This report triggered a rush of fishermen who were
able to develop an huge industry for the European market. Cabot landed
on the Newfoundland shore for only a few hours and found evidence of the
native people. He did report the possible sighting of a couple of
natives, but wasn't positive. |
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Cabot Sights New-Found-Land |
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| The following
year 1498 he set out on another voyage to America but was lost somewhere
at sea. He and his crew were never seen again.
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